Bare with me as I’ve never been unemployed / / no work / agency
So if the agency say your work has been cancelled but there looking for work for you , are you actually unemployed , in the sense can claim unemployment benefit ( though it looks like it’s called j/s allowance these days) or do you have to have to actually leave the agency to be able to claim j/ s allowance .
It’s fairly straightforward if you’re a employee , but looks a grey area when agency , I’m thinking you’ve got to leave the agency as if they ring up through the week with work you’ve put in a false claim as you’re not actually unemployed ?
Ta
Basically if you’re registered with a agency can you claim j/s allowance ta
gov.uk/guidance/new-style-j … ligibility
You can claim if you work less than 16 hrs a week.
So being registered with an agency is irrelevant, if they are not paying you for work.
So you can claim if you can be bothered with the hassle/depending how long you think you’ll be without work. (Obviously if it becomes an extended period you’ll wish you claimed from the start). You won’t get it for the first 7 days, then another 2 weeks before you see any money.
£77 per week, hardly the £800 you’re used to! Make more sense finding other agencies to register with, keep this for if you ever fail the medical.
stu675:
New Style Jobseeker's Allowance - GOV.UKYou can claim if you work less than 16 hrs a week.
So being registered with an agency is irrelevant, if they are not paying you for work.
So you can claim if you can be bothered with the hassle/depending how long you think you’ll be without work. (Obviously if it becomes an extended period you’ll wish you claimed from the start). You won’t get it for the first 7 days, then another 2 weeks before you see any money.
£77 per week, hardly the £800 you’re used to! Make more sense finding other agencies to register with, keeper this for if you ever fail the medical.
I’m guessing there won’t be any work but there could be , that’s what I’m thinking , what happens if you register then agency ring with work , looks like it would be best to leave agency
Not registering with another agency as want full time this time , I know £77 isn’t £800 , but then it’s not £0 + maybe theyl find me a full time job as well
Anyway thanks stu
I used to be registered with half a dozen agencies. It started off as a dozen, but I weeded out the ones who didn’t offer me much work, crap work, trouble getting paid, and so on. I was also on the Job Seekers Allowance of the time (1990s). I had to send the dole office a slip every fortnight, with the hours I’d worked. As that was usually over 16 hours a week, I didn’t get dole money for those weeks. On the odd week when I didn’t get any work, I got my dole money. This only lasted about 6 months, at the most.
I don’t know if they do something similar now, but it would be worth asking.
Oh dear feast to famine has certainly come home for you
Simon:
I used to be registered with half a dozen agencies. It started off as a dozen, but I weeded out the ones who didn’t offer me much work, crap work, trouble getting paid, and so on. I was also on the Job Seekers Allowance of the time (1990s). I had to send the dole office a slip every fortnight, with the hours I’d worked. As that was usually over 16 hours a week, I didn’t get dole money for those weeks. On the odd week when I didn’t get any work, I got my dole money. This only lasted about 6 months, at the most.
I don’t know if they do something similar now, but it would be worth asking.
Thanks Simon , I’ll bare that in mind , but would prefer full time ( though there seems very little about ) , it’s a juggling act as have a medical beginning of April that I’m not expecting to pass , so I’d prefer full time , but maybe agency is the way to go & see what happens with medical in a few months time
I’ll register as unemployed though , thanks
You can work and claim Jobseekers based UC or even the old Unemployment Benefit.
BUT you must tell them the exact dates and hours worked so the benefit can be adjusted accordingly.In fact they encourage you to take what work you can get while claiming.
That feast turned into a famine fairly rapidly 
Carryfast:
You can work and claim Jobseekers based UC or even the old Unemployment Benefit.
BUT you must tell them the exact dates and hours worked so the benefit can be adjusted accordingly.In fact they encourage you to take what work you can get while claiming.
I’ll have a proper read up , but is there not a £16,000 limit on savings / u/c
toonsy:
That feast turned into a famine fairly rapidly
Yes , I’d of never believed it would go from not enough hours in a day to nothing in a matter of weeks , but it has , same with jobs , loads of full time , now nothing
My fault though as I always had a excuse why not to take a full time job , as the mrs reminded me this morning , more than once
Carryfast:
You can work and claim Jobseekers based UC or even the old Unemployment Benefit.
UC is separate to JSA, and is means tested. You claim that separately.
JSA is the old Unemployment Benefit.
BUT you must tell them the exact dates and hours worked so the benefit can be adjusted accordingly.In fact they encourage you to take what work you can get while claiming.
So it’s still essentially the same as when I was working and claiming Unemployment Benefit.
I had to tell them where, when and what hours I’d worked. They then adjusted my benefit, usually to zero because I’d done more than 16 hours in a week.
Back then, I went to the dole office and applied for Unemployment Benefit.
Then I went to the Social Security office, and claimed for financial help with paying my rent and Poll Tax, etc.
I think UC is the equivalent to Social Security.
robthedog:
Oh dear feast to famine has certainly come home for you
Yes I’ll hold my hands up & say I got that one wrong
With the hours you were gloating about on the run up to Xmas you have no chance of getting nothing from job seekers allowance as you will no doubt have savings above the point at which you can claim anything. Unless of course it was just a wind up after all 
drover:
With the hours you were gloating about on the run up to Xmas you have no chance of getting nothing from job seekers allowance as you will no doubt have savings above the point at which you can claim anything. Unless of course it was just a wind up after all
I’m not asking about universal credit that states you can’t have savings above 16,000, I’m asking about job seekers allowance , which states you can have savings of above 16,000
Thanks all , application done
dozy:
drover:
With the hours you were gloating about on the run up to Xmas you have no chance of getting nothing from job seekers allowance as you will no doubt have savings above the point at which you can claim anything. Unless of course it was just a wind up after allI’m not asking about universal credit that states you can’t have savings above 16,000, I’m asking about job seekers allowance , which states you can have savings of above 16,000
Well good luck but it’s probably easier to get a job
drover:
dozy:
drover:
With the hours you were gloating about on the run up to Xmas you have no chance of getting nothing from job seekers allowance as you will no doubt have savings above the point at which you can claim anything. Unless of course it was just a wind up after allI’m not asking about universal credit that states you can’t have savings above 16,000, I’m asking about job seekers allowance , which states you can have savings of above 16,000
Well good luck but it’s probably easier to get a job
There’s very little about full time , I’ve given myself a month to get a full time job , Grantham ( will go as far as Newark / Melton ) , days ,
After a month it may well be whatever’s going , the application is very straightforward .
dozy:
Bare with me as I’ve never been unemployed / / no work / agency
So if the agency say your work has been cancelled but there looking for work for you , are you actually unemployed , in the sense can claim unemployment benefit ( though it looks like it’s called j/s allowance these days) or do you have to have to actually leave the agency to be able to claim j/ s allowance .Ta
Correct. When you’re not working you’re not employed. You need to put in a claim for Universal Credit or if you’re living with someone who is still working fulltime, New Style JSA would be better as that doesn’t take into account their income. With UC you’ll tell them how much you earn every month and they’ll adjust your UC accordingly. With JSA you have to tell them how many hours you’ve worked in claim week and how much you’ve earned which will affect how much you get. On JSA if you work 16hrs or more in any week you have to sign off then back on again.
You do not need to leave the agency.
Conor:
dozy:
Bare with me as I’ve never been unemployed / / no work / agency
So if the agency say your work has been cancelled but there looking for work for you , are you actually unemployed , in the sense can claim unemployment benefit ( though it looks like it’s called j/s allowance these days) or do you have to have to actually leave the agency to be able to claim j/ s allowance .Ta
Correct. When you’re not working you’re not employed. You need to put in a claim for Universal Credit or if you’re living with someone who is still working fulltime, New Style JSA would be better as that doesn’t take into account their income. With UC you’ll tell them how much you earn every month and they’ll adjust your UC accordingly. With JSA you have to tell them how many hours you’ve worked in claim week and how much you’ve earned which will affect how much you get. On JSA if you work 16hrs or more in any week you have to sign off then back on again.
You do not need to leave the agency.
I must admit it was a quick scan , but does it not say you can’t get u/c if you’ve above £16,000 savings ? Mrs works 24 hrs pw , I’ve put in application for jsa from today , but get paid thurs so not sure how that will work as they say will you get anymore money from employer , but don’t ask for details / when / how much , maybe that comes up as we go through process,
Thanks